July 2019, marked by an exceptional heatwave in Europe, was the hottest month ever measured in the world, just above July 2016, according to data from the European Copernicus service on climate change.
“The month of July is generally the hottest month of the year in the world, but according to our data [this month of July 2019] is also the hottest month ever measured, narrowly,” said Monday in a statement the head of the service Jean-Noël Thépaut.
“With the continuation of greenhouse gas emissions and the impact on the global rise in temperatures, records will continue to be beaten,” he insisted.
According to data from Copernicus, mercury rose in July 0.04 ° C higher than the previous record of July 2016, year marked by the influence of a powerful El Niño.
This gap is so small that it is possible that other reference organizations, which collect and analyze the data in a slightly different way, do not reach the same conclusion, notes the statement. The US Atmospheric Agency NOAA has not yet published its findings for the month of July.
According to Copernicus, the temperature in July 2019 was 0.56 ° C higher than the average for the period 1981-2000. It is nearly 1.2 ° C above the pre-industrial level, the baseline of UN climate experts.
The month of July was particularly marked by a short but very intense heat wave in Western Europe, where several countries such as Germany, Belgium or the Netherlands, broke their absolute record of heat.
According to Copernicus, temperatures have also been above normal in Alaska, Greenland and parts of Siberia, as well as in Central Asia and parts of Antarctica.
“There have always been hot summers, but this is not the summer of our youth, it is not the summer of our grandfathers,” commented a few days ago the general secretary of the Antonio Guterres.
“If we do not do anything about climate change now, these extreme weather events will be the tip of the iceberg – Iceberg is rapidly melting itself,” he added.
The World Meteorological Organization estimates that 2019 is expected to be in the top 5 of the hottest years.
“The year 2019 has been very hot so far, with 2019 being one of the hottest 4 months, and June 2019 was the hottest June ever measured,” said Copernicus on Monday.
